Mountain lion seen on another Wichita area home camera is likely same one, official says

A mountain lion, likely the same one spotted in the Riverside neighborhood last week, was picked up on another Ring camera Tuesday night, this time near 143rd East and Harry, according to a Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism wildlife research biologist.

That’s about 12 miles from where a mountain lion was picked up on an alley camera around 4:02 a.m. on May 10. Matt Peek, with the KDWPT, said it’s likely the same mountain lion since they are rare to Kansas and it would be unlikely to have two in that close proximity around the same time.

It’s only the second time a mountain lion spotting has been verified in a Kansas city.

He said the odd part, if it is the same animal, was that it traveled through Kansas’ most populated city and the Ring cameras were the only verified sightings.

This time, the mountain lion was spotted on what appears to be a sidewalk at 10:51 p.m. on Tuesday. Lights from neighboring homes could be seen in the video.

“To me that’s the interesting thing here, and may be an indication of how elusive they are capable of,” he said. “It’s also surprising that in this case it’s walking … right along in front of a bunch of houses at a time of night that’s late but there would still be a lot of people active at that time of night and much more so than the last (sighting) at 4 a.m. It’s a little bit surprising that people haven’t gotten a better look at it. Somebody looks out their window at the right time of night and it would have been walking right in front of their house.”

The Ring owner did not return a call from The Eagle, but Peek said he verified Tuesday’s video with the owner. The mountain lion was caught on camera in an eastern Wichita neighborhood that’s southwest of Andover. The Andover Police Department posted the video on its Facebook page.

In the last week, there have been a few other reports around the Wichita area of possible sightings, including one report where it ended up being a domestic cat and another where a man in Mulvane thought he saw one in a tree Wednesday morning, he said.

It’s rare for them to be in Kansas.

This is the 37th verified mountain lion spotted in Kansas since 2007, he said. Over a dozen of the verified sightings were in the past nine months and there were three mountain lions in Kansas over the winter.

There were reports of mountain lions in Kansas from 1904 to 2007 but none were verified.

The more frequent spotting of mountain lions — also known as a cougar, puma, panther, or catamount — likely point to an expanding population elsewhere, he said.

Young, male mountain lions are likely to leave their home range rather than be killed by a mature male, he said. They can travel hundreds of miles.

Roaming mountain lions, like this one, can move between 5-10 miles a night. But the two videos of the mountain lion are only about 12 miles apart in more than a week’s time.

He said it’s likely the mountain lion didn’t take a straight path.

Most documented mountain lions in Kansas move from north to south, he said. This one is moving more southeast right now, but that could change. It could veer back and eventually find other mountain lions in Texas or New Mexico, he said.

After the mountain lion was spotted the first time, Peek said he estimated it to be a 1- to 2-year-old male, between 90 to 110 pounds and with a 4-foot-long body.

“It’s a good-sized lion,” he said last week. “But it is also lean and not bulky like adults appear a lot of times.”

Mature males can surpass 150 pounds, he said, and females typically range between 80 to 110 pounds.

Those roaming mountain lions will typically forage on small animals: raccoons, possums, skunks and even possibly domestic cats, he said.

No one should try to approach the animal if they see it, rather they should call authorities. If it’s an urgent situation, they can call the KDWPT Operation Game Thief line at 877-426-3843. Non-emergency calls can be made to the KDWPT Emporia Research and Survey Office at 620-342-0658.

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 1:19 PM.